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Inflammatory and infectious pulmonary diseases represent a significant cause of morbidity and mortality. Different morphological imaging techniques, and mainly computed tomography (CT), have been employed to study lung inflammation. However, these techniques suffer from limitations, such as suboptimal sensitivity or specificity.

More recently, molecular imaging and nuclear medicine modalities, such as single-photon emission computed tomography and PET, have been shown to provide high sensitivity in detecting pulmonary infection and inflammation. Specifically, PET results in accurate detection and optimal physiologic monitoring of disease activity. Moreover, the addition of CT to PET images provides both structural information and functional/molecular data. In fact, 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) PET coupled with CT has been proved to be very useful in various inflammatory and infectious disorders with …